Nathan Rogers, owner of the Cocoa Kingdom, showed off a homemade chocolate piñata. It takes several days to make the chocolate used in the product.
Owners Nathan Rogers and Liora Eko-Rogers are working hard to turn the walls of their workspace in the Three Rivers Shopping Center into windows so that shoppers can watch the process of making chocolate from scratch for several days.
Although they are looking forward to it, Rogers said this is a challenging year. Rainier residents started their chocolate business in 2019 and opened a store in the mall on the eve of Thanksgiving in 2020.
Rogers said: “It’s difficult to open up in COVID.” Although there were a steady stream of customers on Friday afternoon, he said it tends to ebb and flow.
“We are trying to bring the mall back to life, but people still think there is nothing there,” Rogers said.
Rogers said that, coupled with rumors about the main store leaving or the shopping center being sold and demolished, all of this “has been proven wrong many times,” Rogers said, “People have this view, so they won’t come. ”
So far, the Cocoa Kingdom has relied on word of mouth and has not done much advertising, because the family is committed to balancing the chocolate business with Rogers’ full-time job as an Intel engineer in Hillsboro; the three who raised him and Eko-Rogers Young children, they are 3, 6 and 9 years old.
Nathan Rogers, the owner of the Cocoa Kingdom, broke down a cocoa bean and showed the paper shell that must be removed.
“Sometimes it can be stressful,” Rogers said. The chocolate business is a labor of love. Rogers said it was enough to pay his own bills, but “for us, this is not the main driver of revenue.”
Beans from Ivory Coast and Ghana are roasted internally for about half an hour and then cooled for about 6 hours.
“This brings them to room temperature and solidifies the coca oil,” Rogers said. “Then we crumbled them with biscuits.”
After the biscuits, another machine separates the thin paper shell from the beans. The husk is not edible, but Rogers said it can make good tea.
“Once we did this, we passed them through the shredder, which spins with a granite platform at the bottom, and it must be ground for 36-48 hours,” he said. “So it takes a few days, but it combines beans, sugar and whatever else we put in. When it comes out, it’s chocolate.”
Cacao Kingdom sells everything from pure chocolate bars to hazelnut, sea salt and almond chocolate bars. The Rogers family also uses peanut butter, marshmallows or sea salt and caramel to make chocolate filling; chocolate dipped pretzels; chocolate dipped Oreos; cake popcorn; and holiday specials, the couple’s dreams come true.
Rogers said that now there are hollow chocolate pinatas that customers can fill as they wish. He said that they bring a small hammer to knock them open, which is a very popular gift.
Although there is no supply chain problem with beans, Rogers said that when the local warehouse had to close in August due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the company had difficulty obtaining some other foods they sold.
In the store, some baked goods are sold, such as Scottish shortbread, as well as burgers, hot dogs, nachos, sandwiches, paninis, pretzels and salads. There is also a vending machine in the mall that sells their chocolates and shortbread.
The Cocoa Kingdom started on the Internet, farmers’ markets, and holiday markets, so Rogers said he received many requests for items. The creation of new products is based on needs and people asking questions. Now, there are three types of dairy-free milk chocolates and a range of sugar-free dark chocolates to choose from. Rogers said that all of their dark chocolate is vegan, as are the three dairy-free products.
“Going to the farmers’ market, we ended up scattered into many very interesting niches, and we tried to reflect this in the store, rather than making it a narrow choice,” he said.
Talking Business is a series featuring new or expanded local businesses and will be published every Tuesday. The series was suspended during the pandemic and recently restarted.
Some even told the staff that if their pets died, it was their fault and accused them of not caring about the animals, which Stephens said “damaged the entire veterinary team.”
A western highway building with a revolving door enterprise now has its latest project: a faucet room with an indoor and outdoor bar, you can see…
The Kaulitz County Government and a state-owned port public company are seeking to expand broadband in rural western areas…
According to the American Association of Port Authorities, the current situation is a combination of multiple factors, most of which are related to the pandemic. First, US consumer spending fell by 30% in April 2020, and then rebounded sharply later this year, shocking the supply chain that “slowed as the economy fell into recession”.
October dates include the afternoon tides in Long Beach and Shuanggang from October 6th to 11th. Starting on October 6, excavations at Mocrocks and Copalis beaches alternate.
This summer, due to a shortage of personnel, the Cowlitz County Public Utilities District exchanged human climbers for a helicopter with saw blades.
On Thursday, Woodland Harbor approved a draft budget with an expenditure budget of approximately US$10 million in 2022.
The Washington State Audit Office awarded the Port of Longview a clean financial audit and found that the port is “protecting public resources…
Rainier-Jeremy Howell was selected on Monday night and filled the Rainier City Council with a 3-1 vote among the four candidates. After Brenda Ts…
Nathan Rogers, owner of the Cocoa Kingdom, showed off a homemade chocolate piñata. It takes several days to make the chocolate used in the product.
Nathan Rogers, the owner of the Cocoa Kingdom, broke down a cocoa bean and showed the paper shell that must be removed.